As doctors battled a deadly, drug-resistant superbug at the National Institutes of Healths Clinical Center last year, they turned to an antibiotic of last resort.

But colistin, is not a fancy new creation of modern biotechnology. It was discovered in a beaker of fermenting bacteria in Japan  in 1949.

That doctors have resorted to such an old, dangerous drug  colistin causes kidney damage  highlights the lack of new antibiotics coming out of the pharmaceutical pipeline ...

Experts point to three reasons pharmaceutical companies have pulled back from antibiotics ... There is not much money in it; inventing new antibiotics is technically challenging; and, in light of drug safety concerns, the FDA has made it difficult for companies to get new antibiotics approved.

While a new antibiotic may bring in a billion dollars over its lifetime, Shlaes said, a drug for heart disease may net $10 billion. Depression and erectile dysfunction drugs  typically taken daily for years, unlike antibiotics, which are used short-term  are also more profitable than antibiotics.

Shlaes said that concerns about antibiotic safety  driven by deaths linked to the drug Ketek that came to light in 2006  have made the FDA reluctant to approve new antibiotics. Theyve basically made it impossible for companies to develop and market antibiotics in the U.S., he said.

Ed Cox, head of the FDAs office of microbial products, said the agency is looking at new approaches for speeding up the approval of new antibiotics, such as requiring smaller clinical studies and allowing research with patients such as those who have multiple infections.

Shlaes characterized the moves at FDA as trying to paint themselves out of a corner.

Exactly. As hospitals are forced to cut corners, they will not be as careful nor as competent as they were, and the number and severity of infections will increase. Welcome to socialized medicine... you would be better off seeing a witch doctor.

7
posted on 08/25/2012 11:02:11 PM PDT
by Pining_4_TX
( The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else. ~)

A somewhat standard schpiel I’ve posted before is to note that the average kitchen cupboard and spice rack is a veritable cornucopia of antimicrobials and anti-inflammatories. Understanding this as well as the proper use of them for these purposes would be very useful knowledge for just about anyone. Garlic, oregano, vinegar, salt, pepper, honey, sugar, turmeric, cinnamon, clove, curry ... It’s no accident.

Just about everything in Italian vinegar and oil salad dressing kills bacteria, as well it should since it goes on raw vegetables for consumption. Salt cures meats for the same reason, as does sugar. Pickling is preservative as well, vinegar. There are medicinal uses for all of these.

In the face of an outbreak of antibiotic resistant bacteria, you’ll need all the help you can get. If new antibiotics to overcome resistance are not neing introduced, it’s just a matter of time. MRSA already has flareups in public places, from hospitals to high school gym locker rooms to health clubs.

Shlaes said that concerns about antibiotic safety  driven by deaths linked to the drug Ketek that came to light in 2006  have made the FDA reluctant to approve new antibiotics. Theyve basically made it impossible for companies to develop and market antibiotics in the U.S., he said.

That's most likely the real reason. I only know corporate finance at the kibitzer's level, but I do know that no company will turn down the chance at a billion-dollar revenue stream if the internal rate of return is significantly higher than the cost of the capital needed to finance it. The mega drug companies didn't grow into behemoths by sticking to only super-profitable drugs.

Back around 1990, I was discussing AIDS cures with a good friend of mine. Back then, he was in pre-med, and I was in undergrad too. I suggested lifting safety protocols for experimental AIDS drugs because the people afflicted with AIDS were going to die early anyway. He didn't buy it; for him, it was out of the question even though common sense was on my side.

Using low dose antibiotics on farm animals for the purpose of weight gain is the primary cause of our problems with ineffective antibiotics.
I have no problem with administering antibiotics to animals that have an abcess or other infection; it’s using antibiotics for non-medical uses that has to stop.

16
posted on 08/26/2012 4:04:22 AM PDT
by BuffaloJack
(Boot the socialist out of the White House.)

Socialized medicine is not the answer but the drug industry’s behaviors are pushing more people in that direction. When our nation’s health and survival is treated like an accountant’s spreadsheet we are the big losers.

Good old chlorine bleach is great for cleaning impervious surfaces such as tile, etc. precisely because it kills bacteria, but the space had better be well ventilated or you'll gas yourself, possible lung damage. Same for ammonia but don't go mixing the two. Muriatic acid is another. I wouldn't advise using any of these topically for infection though, they can do just as much damage as the microbes. Kerosene and battery acid? Don't go there, you're going to get somebody killed, imho.

Most of the topical antiseptics you buy from the store have a petroleum based products in them, kerosene,

I've used kerosene for over 50 years and I'm still alive.

Battery acid, just a small drop on an infected cut pretty much takes the infection out.

Just have some fresh water handy to wash it off.

First time I used battery acid was by accident.

Had a cut on side of my finger and another on the end of the same finger. Went straight down the end of my finger half way through the nail. Both cuts were infected and my finger was swollen and a bright red.

Pulled a cracked battery out of a tractor. The acid from the battery soaked the bandage on my finger.

The water trough was about 100 yards away, so it burned like crap until i got to the trough to wash it off.

Next day infection, swelling, and soreness was pretty much gone.

I've dabbed acid on cuts a lot of times since then.

Hasn't killed me yet, although I do get an urge to jump start a car every now and then.

The bottom line is that the age of profligate antibiotic use is drawing to a close, and sensibly, their use in the future will likely be limited to just known pathogens in controlled situations, like hospitals. No more public use by prescription. No more prophylactic use.

However, this does not mean that we are helpless against pathogens, just that we have to adapt to how we deal with them. Here are some axioms.

1) Antibiotic resistant bacteria have become commonplace, and many or even most people already have them in their bodies in small numbers. They are kept in check by the rest of our bacterial flora, that physically deny them the space to grow. They only become dangerous when we take antibiotics that damage our normal flora, which allows the resistant bacteria to have a potentially deadly population explosion.

2) Bacteriophage viruses, that consume bacteria, have been known since 1915, and are the bulk of the viruses in the world. Unfortunately, while they will attack pathogens, the bacteria become resistant to them even faster than they do to antibiotics. So their use is only suggested in combination with antibiotics.

3) However, our own flora, in combination with our immune system, may be the best defense of all. The adult GI tract has between 300 and 1000 (or more) different types and strains of bacteria. Of these, only 30 or 40 take up almost all the space, and our immune system is interactive with them. And it is very easy to boost this colony, by consuming foods that support and enhances these bacteria.

4) But our immune system is also essential to this defense. It can be enhanced and protected to make us much more resistant to infection. Vitamin D, a hormone, does several things to strengthen our immune system and fight pathogens, both bacteria and viruses. However, it can also be weakened or dulled by arsenic, other chemicals, toxins and free radicals.

As an aside, while there are a lot of “probiotics” now sold to improve the intestinal flora, there is now a live culture yogurt drink that is especially good, having about 10 different cultures, instead of the 1-3 found in most probiotics and other yogurts.

It is called “Kefir”, and is sold as a flavored or unflavored yoghurt drink under several brands now in stores. The flavored kind, especially, is rather tasty. Often it is low fat as well.

This idiot at the WaPo attempts to blame Big (bad) Pharma for the lack of new antibiotics (can't make money), but that only proves the author is a flagrant moron and is completely unqualified to be writing about the subject.

Everyone with any real understanding of the issue knows the FDA is to blame. They're doing the same thing they did in 1984 when they almost destroyed the vaccine industry. Vaccine makers stopped making vaccines because of the constantly increasing costs associated with protecting themselves from predatory and frivolous lawsuits.

Twenty years ago, the FDA began increasing the requirements that drug companies prove new antibiotics are effective and safe, and then forced them to increase the number of participants in clinical trials. Naturally, this was all at the drug company's expense. The end result, of course, was that just like in 1984, companies got out of the antibiotic business in huge numbers.

Now that Congress has finally begun to realize that they, once again, screwed the pooch, they are offering extended patent protection, fewer regulations and tax breaks to get the antibiotic pipeline rolling again. They're only about 20 years too late. Typical government FUBAR. Even so, there is a large contingency of "conservatives" who will demonize "big pharma" for not delivering the silver bullets they demand.

I had a biochem professor who liked to tell us that the bugs would inherit the earth. Little did he know just how much government would do to help them along.

25
posted on 08/26/2012 8:03:14 AM PDT
by Mase
(Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)

Last time I had a real bad infection, my Doc was talking to me about the lack on new antibiotics for humans. According to him the majority are now being developed for animals and being used way too much.

34
posted on 08/26/2012 6:30:19 PM PDT
by SledgeCS
(I will vote for Obama when he admits that his idea of a transparency means "You cannot see it")

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